First off for today, I want to clarify my last post. I wrote it after reading a magazine article about how kids don't have enough time to play and it got my brain churning. I was truly surprised that "lack of free play time" was a big enough issue that I was reading a magazine article about it. I wasn't trying to be negative about kids being in sports and activities but that's totally how I came off. SO sorry about that. I think sports are GREAT for kids to be involved in and as mine get older I'm sure we will. I was just stating why at this time in our family's life, it doesn't make sense for us, time-wise, financially, and otherwise. I'm not saying we CAN'T afford it, but just that it makes more sense for us to spend our cash on things we can all do together. With 3 little ones, schedule is huge. If we get off kilter for more than a day or two, Mommy pays dearly!
Moving right along, I'm on a quest. I have been reading a lot of labels lately and I'm getting serious about removing junk food from my kids diet. Now, I'm not going crazy and outlawing McDonald's or anything but I want our eating at home to be as healthy as possible so that things we have elsewhere are a treat. My first goal is to remove refined sugar from our house. It is SO much harder than I thought. Sugar is in everything! I have started with the basics~all natural peanut butter, applesauce, yogurt, ect. I am trying to get rid of the high fructose corn syrup type sugars. Some things like dried fruit are higher in sugar but are also high in vitamins and fiber. I'm also trying to keep all processed foods to an absolute minimum. Things like hot dogs, Spaghetti Os, and such.
I want to get some breakfast, lunch and snack ideas for summer and for fall lunch boxes. Breakfast is the easiest but snacks are killing me. Once you get past fruit and veggies there is not much left! We already do things like low fat string cheese and yogurt. The big girls love hummus with whole wheat pita chips.
The other big challenge with healthy eating is the cost. It is more expensive to go all natural for many reasons but so far in my experience, the biggest reason is the removal of generic products from the mix. We go through applesauce like crazy here but only Mott's makes a "No Sugar Added" applesauce so I'm stuck.
So throw some ideas at me! What healthy snacks do your kids love? What healthy options are good for lunch boxes? Do you have budget friendly tips?
. . .and he wasn't even drunk.
Here he is before the massacre~happy and smiling.
And here is my poor shorn baby. He really does have about an inch of hair left but it's so blond you can't even see it.
He's like a smiling sweet baby Billy Idol. I am the worst mommy ever.
So here's Amelia's for today~ham chunks and colby-jack chunks, whole grain crackers, grape tomatoes with ranch dressing, one lone baby carrot, 3 organic oreos (do not laugh), and a small bag of pretzels for snack time. They eat one snack outside so it has to be in a disposable container.
Caroline's was a bit funner! She has Granny Smith apple slices, sliced mozzarella cheese, & whole grain crackers. She made these into little sandwiches which are super good! She also has grape tomatoes and organic oreos. 
Happy birthday to my beloved oldest daughter! Caroline is 10 today. Eek. I am old. 10 is old. I REMEMBER being 10. It involved a lot of back talk and singing of Barbara Mandrell songs. She has spent much of the day complaining about how much her birthday sucks. We are leaving on vacay in a few days so I'm doing laundry, cleaning, packing, ect. She is PO'd that the rules of the house still apply and she is not the queen of the world. All in all, she's a sweet kid who is developing the life skills of shopping and golf. She's also a crazy White Sox fan. . .she actually shed tears last week out of fear that her beloved Nick Swisher might get traded. So happy birthday Caroline Rebekah. You've got 8 more years of free-loading and then you're out on your ear.
